Brother Jones

Very nice. I have two Metros (a UV70 and a 5) and am gassing slightly for an NYC. I love the truss rod adjustment on them btw - makes it really easy to tweak your setup...

[quote name='Born 2B Mild' post='255762' date='Aug 5 2008, 08:46 PM']the feel/playability may be enhanced by a fancy bass, but in general I think the gigging bass player has to recognise that fancy gear CAN BE wasted in the mix. In a loud band and particularly when using fingers and not a pick, your subtle wood types, deluxe strings, pre-amps, and amps with more knobs than Eton, will not get you much further than if you used equipment costing a fraction of the price.[/quote] I agree. This is why people still use Precisions and why some basses (eg Sadowskys) have a reputation for 'cutting though'.

As a long term Jazz and Jazz-clone user I've been gassing for a Precision for a while. This reached crisis point when I spotted a gorgeous '66 Precision in shoreline gold, matching headstock, etc, in Charlie Chandler's shop. It was a refin and had had a serious neck repair. It also cost a small fortune so I thought I'd better compare it with a 'bog standard' P-bass and had a little tinkle on a Jap '62 reissue. It was up at £489, so I'm assuming it was one of the 'standard' reissues with basswood body and Jap vintage pups. It looked almost as good as the '66, with a perfect 3T burst and a three-ply tort guard - not that weird reddish tort that you sometimes see on Jap Fenders. The neck wood looked very good, with a slight quilt to it, and the lacquer was slightly dark for a nice vintage look. Weight was around medium - 8.5 pounds or so. The neck (the thing that might have bothered me most) was an absolute peach - wider than I was used to, but also shallower. It felt perfect. It also sounded bloody good. When I was a young nipper checking out Precisions, they always seemed to sound a bit clanky and industrial to me. Perhaps the better string control and muting I've learned over twenty years has made a difference, or perhaps this was just an unnaturally good Precision, but either way it seemed to be making all the right noises and I preferred the neck to the '66 (which was three or four times pricier...) So, what the hell. I snapped it up and made my apologies for rapid loss of interest in the '66. Having got the thing home, I could not stop playing it. Happily, after a moment of suspicion, it became clear that my girlfriend could not really tell the difference between the Precision and my sunburst Sadowsky Metro 5 (which I stashed quietly under the bed). There is something about the pure utility of a Precision, and (to my eyes) the way a good 'burst one looks, that has a unique appeal. Harmonics aren't really on the agenda and slap seems to need a bit more control, but as a fingerstyle bass it does things than I just can't do on anything else. Fast runs have a kind of burpy quality and you get little inflections by subtly altering your muting technique. Perhaps most importantly, this is the bass that was on so many of those lines that made me want to play the bass when I was 8 or 9 years old - like the theme to Barney Miller (which I can't stop playing on it ) The main downside at the moment is that, while I've put my usual 45-105s on it, I just can't get the action down as low as I'm used to on my Zons and Sadowskys, and the strong tension also seems higher - so it's physically more of a challenge. But in a way I enjoy that more and have the massive blisters on my left hand fingers to prove it. Might try it with 40-100s though... Verdict: I've got that sweet 'new toy' feeling with this bass. I love looking at it, love playing it and think it's a long-term keeper.

I'm trying to figure out how to record my bass on my compy. Can you just put a 3.5mm adapter on a cable, plug it into a line in and record using Realplayer or something? Thanks

If this helps, I have a UV70 4 string and Metro Vintage 5. Both are outstanding. The thought of a UV70 5 makes me drool....

Naim Credos ferret? Jones (who loves his SBLs...)